Inertia spindle-lubricator.



J. M. CAMERON. INERTIA SPINDLE LUBRIGATOR. APPLICATION FILED r5315,1910.

1,006,908. Patented Oct. 24, 1911.

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a (I (325 g 20 AMI I a J 1 J2 6, I (9 7 20 9 J67 fia 3 aw-Mucous J. M.CAMERON. INERTIA SPINDLE LUBRICATOR. APPLICATION FILED 313.15, 1910.

1,006,908, Patented Oct. 24, 1911.

i 1 55 1 2$ 6 37 v a f 436 Q/vi/f wme/a m JOHN 'M. CAMERON, 0FCRANBERRY, NORTH CAROLINA.

INERTIA SPINDLE-LUBRIGATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 15, 1910. Serial No. 544,110.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, JOHN M. CAMERON, citizen of the United States,residing at Cranberry, in the county of Mitchell and State of NorthCarolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in InertiaSpindle-Lubricators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to lubricators and particularly to lubricators formachinery subject to shock in its operation.

The primary object of the invention is to provide for air or steam rockdrills or other machinery which is subject to constant shocks oroscillation, due to the movement of reciprocating parts, a lubricatorthat will feed oil to the parts while under pressure and which will beto a certain extent operated by the oscillation of the machinery.

Another object is to provide a lubricatoras above described, which willautomatically supply oil to the moving parts of the engine or othermachine to which it is attached, in quantity proportionate to the speedat which the engine or machine is operated on the principle that eachindividual stroke of the part being lubricated requires a certainquantity of oil. Thus a machine or machine element making two hundredstrokes per minute calls for double the amount of oil which is requiredfor a machine or element making only one hundred strokes per minute.

A further object of the invention is to provide a lubricator for theoutside of the reciprocating parts of a machine or engine, which shallbe dust proof.

In order to secure the objects above named, I have devised an oiler inwhich an oscillating valve is placed, this oscillating valve controllingthe feed of oil to the machine and being so constructed that with everyjolt or jar delivered to the machine by the motion of the parts, thevalve will open to permit a certain amount of oil being delivered andwill then close.

- My invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section through my improved lubricatorand valve; Fig. 2 is a like view, but showingthe valve in its openedposition; Fig. 3 is a transverse section at right angles to Fig. 1; Fig.4 is a detail perspective view of the valve; Fig. 5 is a detailperspective view of the oil reservoir and the bolt disassembled; and,

Fig. 6 is a transverse section of a modified form of lubricator.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

Referring to these figures and particularly to Figs. 1 to 4:, 2designates a casing of any convenient shape, forming a chamber 3 forholding a supply of oil. At the bottom of the chamber is formed a valveseat 4: and the passage 5 extends from this seat and opens 011 theinside of a ring 6.

Passing through the ring 6 is a bolt 7 formed at one end with a head 8and having its shank eXteriorly screw threaded, as at 9, to engage withinterior screw threads on a pipe connection 10. This pipe connection isexteriorly screw threaded at its end, as at 11, for insertion into theparts to be lubricated. The shank of the bolt 7 is formed with alongitudinally extending central passage 12 which at its inner endconnects with a branch 13, which extends from the passage 12 at rightangles thereto and opens at its outer end upon an annular groove 14,which when the bolt is in position is in alinement with the passage 5.It will thus be seen that the container or reservoir 2 may be rotativelymoved around the bolt 7 to any angular positionthereon, withoutinterrupting the passage from the reservoir to the passage 12, and so tothe part to be lubricated.

Mounted within the container or reservoir 2, is a valve 15 having theform of a somewhat elongated spindle. This valve is tubular and at itslower end is adapted to fit into the upper end of the passage 5, the endof the valve surrounding the central passage 16 therein, fitting againstthe seat 4 formed in the lower end of the reservoir, so that when thevalve is in line with the passage 5 and resting squarely upon the seat4, the valve will close the passage 5 and prevent the oil passing fromthe reservoir into said passage. The upper end of the valve 15 has aflat surface and is counterbored, as at 17. Resting upon the upper endof the valve 15 is the cap 18. This cap at its lower end is slightlyrounded, the rounded lower end fitting into the counterbore 17 which isan enlargement of the upper end of the central passage 16. The inner endof the cap 18 is also provided with the annular flange 19 which fitsupon the fiat Patented Oct. 24:, 1911.

upper face of the valve. The outer extremity of the cap 18 is rounded,as at 20, and engages preferably in a recess 21 formed in a plug 22,this plug being exteriorly screw threaded to engage with and close theupper end of the reservoir 2. There is suificient play between the upperend of the cap 18 and the plug 22 to permit of an oscillation of the cap18 to the position shown in Fig. 2.

The cap 18 and the valve 15 are yieldingly held in alinement with eachother by means of a spring 23, which as shown in Fig. 3, is coiledaround the cylindrical cap 18 and bears at its upper end against ashoulder 24 formed on the inner face of the plug 22. The valve 15 isformed with radial passages 25 which connect with the passage 16 so thatcommunication may be established between the passage 5 and the spaceabove the surface of the oil. It will be seen that the internal diameterof the circular recess 21 in the plug 22 which forms the top of thechamber 3, is somewhatlarger than the upper end of the valve 15 topermit a movement of the upper end of valve 15 at right angles to itslongitudinal axis. The reservoir 2 is also provided with a fillingopening closed by a plug 27.

The upper end of the valve 15, it will be seen, is enlarged and henceconsiderably heavier than the lower end thereof so that the valve, if itwere not for the spring 23, would be in a condition of unstableequilibrium. The valve stem is also provided with the projecting wings28 for a purpose to be later described. On each side of the chamber orreservoir 2 is an opening which is interiorly threaded to receive athreaded plug 30 which carries a sight glass 31 held against a shoulder011 the plug by means of a screw threaded ring 32. This glass iscushioned by a rubber or felt gasket.

The operation of my invention as described is as follows: Theconnect-ion 11 is first securely screwed into the engine, drill or otherpart to which the lubricator is to be applied, and the chamber orreservoir 15 is then disposed in a vertical position and clamped tightlyin place in this posit-ion by means of the bolt 7. Assuming for purposesof explanation, that the lubricator is connected to a rock drill, itwill be seen that as the machine operates, the reciprocating pistonthereof will be subjected to a constant succession of shocks. The numberof blows struck by the drill of a rock drilling machine may be variedfrom fifty to five hundred per minute, and hence the number of shocks towhich the piston is subjected will vary. When the piston is suddenlystopped by the end of the drill contacting with the rock, the wholemachine is jarred and anything attached to the machine partakes of thisjar. By the mechanism described, I

provide means whereby this shock, jar or vibration caused by thereciprocation of the piston or other like part is utilized to feed oilto the machine. valve whereby the flow of oil is controlled is made upof two parts, namely, the valve proper 15 and the cap piece 18, theseparts being held in alinement with each other by the spring 23. WViththe chamber 2 filled with oil, each blow of the drill upon the rock willcause the valve to take for an instant the position shown in Fig. 2,wherein the two sections of the valve 15 and 18 are at an angle to eachother. This lateral movement of the upper end of the spindleshaped valve15 raises the valve from its seat on one side, as shown in Fig. 2,sufficiently to allow a small quantity of oil to pass through thepassage 5 and into the drill cylinder. In order to insure this tippingor rocking of the valve upon this seat, the upper end of the stem 15 ispreferably made relatively heavy by the enlargement 15; hence if theside of the lubricator be struck a horizontal blow in the directionshown by the arrow in Fig. 1, the upper or weighted end of the spindle15 and the lower end of the member 18 will move horizontally relativelyto the valve casing, a distance proportionate to the force of the shockor jar to the position shown in Fig. 2. Immediately following theopening of the valve, as above described, the valve will be closed bythe action of the spring 23 which brings the two sections of the valve15 and 18 into alinement. This spring constantly tends to retain theparts 15 and 18 in alinement and at right angles to the plane of theseat 4, thus keeping the passage 5 closed. Thus, for each stroke of thedrill or for each reciprocation of the engine or machine part, therewill be a partial opening of the valve at the seat 4, permitting oil topass into the passage 5 and in this way the parts are lubricated at eachstroke.

In order to provide means for rocking the spindle 15 upon its seat undera vertically delivered shock or blow, I use the oil in the chamber 15 asa means of causing the valve spindle to rock. To this end I provide theprojecting wings 28 whereby the inertia of the oil is transmitted to thespindle 15. For lubricating certain classes of slowly movingreciprocating machinery, it is not necessary to provide the cap piece 18nor the spring 22, these parts being dispensed with, but the lower endof the spindle 15 is increased in dimaeter so as to get a relativelybroad seat at 4. I

The sight glasses 31 permit the condition of the oil in the chamber orreservoir to be noted at any time. This is done by holding a light onone side of the lubricator and looking through the lubricator from theother side. A glance is suflicient todeter- It will be seen that themine whether or not the oil chamber is empty or full. 7

Two details may be pointed out with regard to the operation of thevalve. The

.first is that the widened flange forming the lower end of the valvespindle forms a fulcrum upon which the spindle rocks or tips. Thisflange being annular permits the spindle to tip in any direction. Thelower end of the spindle preferably projects into the opening 5 so thatthe spindle may be seated In Fig. 6 is shown a modified form of myinvention and therein 2 designates the oil chamber constructed preciselyas heretofore described, having the seat 4:, passage 5 and the ring 6through which passes the bolt 7 The valve in this case, however,consists of a hollow shell 33 which is closed at its lower end, save fora passage 34. The lower face of the shell 33 is provided with a centralprojecting portion 35 which extends down into the opening 5. The upperend of the shell 33 is thickened or weighted, as at 36, and carriedwithin the shell is the coil spring 37, which extends upward above theupper end of the shell and bears against the inside face of a plug 38which is similar to the plug 22, except that it is not provided with theshoulder 24. The spring 37 may either be loose or may be attached at itsupperend to the plug 38 so as to move with the plug. The operation ofthis form of my invention is precisely the same as heretofore described.A. shock or jar will cause the valve to tip upon its seat, thus openingthe passage 5 to the oil and the valve will then be closed by the actionof the spring 37. While I have shown what I believe to be the twopreferable forms of my invention, I do not wish to be limited to theexact construction shown, as it is obvious that the principle of myinvention might be embodied in a large number of different forms. I havefound my invention entirely effective in practice, particularly for the'purpose of lubricating rock drills and like machinery.

In order to prevent the plug 27 from being lost, I may provide it withthe link 27 which is attached to the plug and depends within the chamber3, the lower end of this link being enlarged by being formed into aloop, this loop being larger than the opening which the plug closes.When the device is inserted, the coil or loop at the end of the link maybe depressed sufiiciently to permit it to be inserted into the openingin the reservoir 2, and it will then expand, taking the form shown inFig. 6.

While I prefer to use a spring for returning the valve to its seat afterit has been oscillated, I do not wish to limit myself to this, for evenwithout a spring the valve will return to its seat unless the angle ofinclination be such as will move the center of the weighted part of thevalve to a point vertically outside of the edge of the valve seat. Inother words, assuming that the valve at its lower end has a seat g of aninch in diameter, the center of gravity of the whole valve must move ofan inch or more from the vertical position before the valve will open bygravity and allow oil to waste. As the center of gravity of my improvedvalve is about one inch above the seat, the lubricator may be as much asof an inch out of plumb to each inch of height before the valve willopen of itself and waste oil. This ratio corresponds to an inclinationof 18 and my lubricator even without a spring is capable of being usedon any machine through a range of 18 above or below the horizontal andwill automatically close the oil outlet by gravity alone until theinclination exceeds 18 when the spring is required. An inclination of 18corresponds to what is known in railroad parlance as a 32% grade. Mylubricator may therefore be used on railroad car axles and without aspring on all practical grades and will close the oil outlet when atrest.

It is to be particularly noted that my valve responds to jolts or jarscoming from any direction, and not only to jars which occur parallel tothe axis of the valve.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. The combination with a chamber having an outlet opening and a valveseat surrounding the opening, of an elongated valve within the chamberoscillatable in all directions, the lower end of the valve having arocking engagement with the seat as upon a fulcrum, the other end of thevalve being free to move laterally in all directions under shock to rockthe valve upon its seat, and means having a rocking engagement with thechamber and acting to press the valve upon its seat, and also acting toreturn the valve to a position perpendicular to the valve seat.

2; The combination with a lubricant containing chamber having an outletopening, of an elongated, loose valve within the chamber, the lower endof the valve having rocking engagement with the seat, the other end ofthe valve being free to move laterally in all directions and having afiat face, and an oscillatable member having rocking engagement in alldirections with the upper end of the chamber and having a flat facedlsposed 1n rocking engagement with the fiat face of the end of thevalve.

and at the other end communicating with the exterior of the valve, saidpassage when the valve is in a position perpendicular to the valve seatcommunicating with the outlet opening.

4. The combination with a chamber having an outlet opening and a flatseat surrounding the opening, of a valve loosely disposed within thechamber, the lower end of the valve having a fiat face contacting withthe face of the valve seat when the valve is in a position perpendicularthereto and having a rocking engagement with the seat as upon a fulcrum,the other end of the valve being free to move laterally in alldirections to rock the valve upon its seat, and resilient meansyieldingly forcing the valve in the direction of its axis toward theseat and acting to urge the valve to a position perpendicular to thevalve seat.

5. In a lubricator, the combination with an oil containing chamberhaving an outlet opening at its lower end and a seat surrounding theopening, of a spindle shaped valve disposed within the chamber, the.

lower end thereof resting on the seat, the other end of the valve beingweighted, but free to move laterally under shock to tip the valve uponthe seat as a fulcrum, and a spring acting to hold the valve in aposition perpendicular to the face of the valve seat.

6. In a lubricator, the combination with an oil containing chamberhaving an outlet opening at its lower end and a seat surrounding theopening, of a spindle shaped valve disposed within the chamber, thelower end thereof resting on said seat and closing the outlet opening,the other end of the valve being free to move laterally under shock,thus tipping the valve uponthe seat as a fulcrum, said valve beingtubular and opening into the chamber.

7. In a lubricator, the combination with a chamber having an outletopening at its lower end, and a seat surrounding the open ing, of atubular valve disposed within the chamber, the lower end of the valveresting on the seat, the upper end of the valve being weighted, a springengaging with the 'upper end. of the valve to hold it in a verticalposition, and means for limiting the tipping movement of the valve.

8. In a lubricator, the combination with a chamber having an outletopening at its lower end, and a seat surrounding the opening, of anelongated valve within the chamber, the lower end thereof resting on theseat, the upper end of the valve projecting into a contracted portion ofthe upper end of the chamber and being thereby limited in its lateralmovement, the upper end of the valve being Iree to move laterally undershock to tip the valve upon the seat as a fulcrum, and a spring engagingthe upper end of the chamber and the valve and hold ing the valve in avertical position.

9. In a lubricator, the combination with an oil containing chamberhaving an outlet opening at its lower end and a seat surrounding theopening, of a spindle shaped valve, the lower end thereof having a central projection normally disposed within said opening, the upper. end ofthe valve being weighted and free to move laterally under shock to rockthe valve upon the seat as a fulcrum, and a spring holding the valve ina vertical position.

10. In a lubricator, an oil containing chamber, one end of said chamberbeing formed with a ring, the chamber having an oil passage extending tothe inner face of the ring, a valve disposed within the chamber andresting at one end against the outlet opening, the other end of thevalve be ing free to move laterally under shock to tip the valve uponits lower end as a fulcrum and open the oil opening, a screw threadedmember passing'through the ring on the lower end of the chamber, saidmember being formed with an annular groove normally in alinement withthe oil outlet passage and with an internal passage opening to saidgroove, and a nipple into which said screw threaded member screws.

11. In a lubricator, the combination with an oil containing chamberhaving an outlet opening at its lower end and a fiat seat surroundingthe opening, of an elongated valve, the lower end thereof having a fiatface disposed in rocking engagement with the valve seat, the other endof the valve being free to move in all directions under shock to rockthe valve upon a seat as upon a fulcrum and having a flat face at rightangles to the axis of the valve, and a member freely oscillatablelaterally in all directions and loosely seated in the upper end of thechamber, the other end of the member being fiat and having rockingengagement with the outer end of the valve.

12. In a lubricator, the combination with an oil containing chamberhaving an outlet opening at one end and a flat seat surrounding theopening, of an elongated spindleshaped valve disposed Within thechamber,

JOHN 'M. CAMERON, 0F CRANBERRY, NORTH CAROLINA.

INERTIA SPINDLE-LUBRIGATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 15, 1910. Serial No. 544,110.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, JOHN M. CAMERON, citizen of the United States,residing at Cranberry, in the county of Mitchell and State of NorthCarolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in InertiaSpindle-Lubricators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to lubricators and particularly to lubricators formachinery subject to shock in its operation.

The primary object of the invention is to provide for air or steam rockdrills or other machinery which is subject to constant shocks oroscillation, due to the movement of reciprocating parts, a lubricatorthat will feed oil to the parts while under pressure and which will beto a certain extent operated by the oscillation of the machinery.

Another object is to provide a lubricatoras above described, which willautomatically supply oil to the moving parts of the engine or othermachine to which it is attached, in quantity proportionate to the speedat which the engine or machine is operated on the principle that eachindividual stroke of the part being lubricated requires a certainquantity of oil. Thus a machine or machine element making two hundredstrokes per minute calls for double the amount of oil which is requiredfor a machine or element making only one hundred strokes per minute.

A further object of the invention is to provide a lubricator for theoutside of the reciprocating parts of a machine or engine, which shallbe dust proof.

In order to secure the objects above named, I have devised an oiler inwhich an oscillating valve is placed, this oscillating valve controllingthe feed of oil to the machine and being so constructed that with everyjolt or jar delivered to the machine by the motion of the parts, thevalve will open to permit a certain amount of oil being delivered andwill then close.

- My invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section through my improved lubricatorand valve; Fig. 2 is a like view, but showingthe valve in its openedposition; Fig. 3 is a transverse section at right angles to Fig. 1; Fig.4 is a detail perspective view of the valve; Fig. 5 is a detailperspective view of the oil reservoir and the bolt disassembled; and,

Fig. 6 is a transverse section of a modified form of lubricator.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

Referring to these figures and particularly to Figs. 1 to 4:, 2designates a casing of any convenient shape, forming a chamber 3 forholding a supply of oil. At the bottom of the chamber is formed a valveseat 4: and the passage 5 extends from this seat and opens 011 theinside of a ring 6.

Passing through the ring 6 is a bolt 7 formed at one end with a head 8and having its shank eXteriorly screw threaded, as at 9, to engage withinterior screw threads on a pipe connection 10. This pipe connection isexteriorly screw threaded at its end, as at 11, for insertion into theparts to be lubricated. The shank of the bolt 7 is formed with alongitudinally extending central passage 12 which at its inner endconnects with a branch 13, which extends from the passage 12 at rightangles thereto and opens at its outer end upon an annular groove 14,which when the bolt is in position is in alinement with the passage 5.It will thus be seen that the container or reservoir 2 may be rotativelymoved around the bolt 7 to any angular positionthereon, withoutinterrupting the passage from the reservoir to the passage 12, and so tothe part to be lubricated.

Mounted within the container or reservoir 2, is a valve 15 having theform of a somewhat elongated spindle. This valve is tubular and at itslower end is adapted to fit into the upper end of the passage 5, the endof the valve surrounding the central passage 16 therein, fitting againstthe seat 4 formed in the lower end of the reservoir, so that when thevalve is in line with the passage 5 and resting squarely upon the seat4, the valve will close the passage 5 and prevent the oil passing fromthe reservoir into said passage. The upper end of the valve 15 has aflat surface and is counterbored, as at 17. Resting upon the upper endof the valve 15 is the cap 18. This cap at its lower end is slightlyrounded, the rounded lower end fitting into the counterbore 17 which isan enlargement of the upper end of the central passage 16. The inner endof the cap 18 is also provided with the annular flange 19 which fitsupon the fiat Patented Oct. 24:, 1911.

